The I Like Book provided the i like book for women to me, free of charge, in exchange for review. A positive review was not guaranteed, and no other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own.
(Review and Giveaway after the JUMP) Continue reading »
If you have yet to discover or explore the magnificent pinterest, I invite you (er, well you’d have to ask me to, but I totally can!) to go on a quest in search of ANYTHING. I dare you to find something cool. Because that’s what pinterest is all about, sharing cool stuff without all the drama blah blah blah of facebook. It’s a place to enjoy fun ideas with friends and then bug them later about if they actually made that melted crayon art for their kids’ room. One thing about pinterest is how much crafty stuff you can find. It’s truly insanity. And people pin it, with the most sincere intentions of actually doing it one day. Occasionally that happens… Some of the best stuff is turning “trash” into new treasures. I thought I would share some pretty nifty projects I found. I keep them stashed on my Re-Use board, a place dedicated to giving new life to old things via some good ol’ DIY.
Who hasn’t thought these would be way cooler in a non-ketchup-mustard combo?!
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If you actually go to the board, you’ll see I had quite an obsession with pringle can projects…
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Though, I would hope you wouldn’t just have a diapers box laying around. 
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I know… Soda. So uncrunchy. Grab some Kern’s for this one, not perfect, but you’ll feel an insy bit better.
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The link to this one has been lost, but it seems rather self-explanatory to me!
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Looks easy enough, but if you want a how-to I sure hope you have a webpage translator….
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The only issue I see with this: where in the heck do you find this kind of light bulb anymore?!
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Now this one is my absolute favorite!
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I shared eight mostly kid friendly ideas here, I have sixty-six pins in this general category of recycling. Check it out. Surf pinterest. Find. Create. 
Well it hasnt quite been two weeks since i posted about starting our baby plants but here is a wee update.
The plants in the home made containers failed. Well they did and they didnt. My kids were over excited about watering and soaked the paper bags till they fell apart. The seedlings. I tried salvage what i could, but they didnt make it.
However our cut off containers made from milk jugs and juice bottles are doing great. We have 2-3 inch tall tomato plants! I really hope that they continue to grow and get stronger.
Our Tomato seedlings
A Sunflower
And our pot of onions.
Onions are a really easy one to grow. We buy bundles of green onion at the store. I cut off the bottoms and plant them and cut off the tops to eat. Then they grow in a pot till we want onion. Usually in the evenings at dinner, the kids pop off a few onions and munch on them.
To start our foods outside, the nights have to stay above freezing. We have been sitting at about 36 degrees at night so i decided to go ahead and plant our potatoes.
This is my huge Whiskey Barrel. Last year we had 7 potato plants in it! Its about 3 ft across, i know it dosent look like it from the pictures but it is big.
And this was my totally inspired, i need more containers to grow potatoes in, container. It was previously used as a toy tub in the garage for outdoor toys.
Yes i need more soil. Probably 3-5 cubic feet more soil, but im stranded carl-less 30 miles from the nearest store i can buy soil so they will have to make do. 
Weaning is something that has a lot of contention in the natural parenting community. Everyone has an opinion as to when and how you should do it. I will tell you right now, there is no one way to do it. Throughout history, weaning has been something that has changed. A lot of when we wean these days is determined by societal pressures and communal culture. With understanding of nutrition and the ready availability of food, it is not as dangerous to wean a child younger than in the past. La Leche League defines weaning as the introduction of solid foods, not the removal of the breast milk.
I don’t. I just want that to be clear before we continue. You may choose to define it how you wish. But the purpose of this article is the eventual removal of the boob. I have already talked about finger foods- and really, most people call the introduction of finger foods and the baby’s self-feeding to be Baby Led Weaning. Call it whatever you want. The name doesn’t matter. For me, it was just the introduction of finger foods to a hunger fuss face boy. For another mother it may be Baby Led Weaning.
Weaning: to teach the sucking child to feed otherwise than from the breast
I do believe that weaning is a gradual change, but the end result is that the child is no longer suckling at the breast. When you choose to do this, is up to you. Yes, the introduction of solid foods is a step to getting your child off the boob. I have to be honest though, I have not started the process of removing my son from the breast or actively trying to. He eats solid food, but I still offer him the breast first when I know he is hungry and I am home to do so. He is also only 9 months old and I don’t plan on even starting to try until he is a year old.
It is recommended by most that you should continue breastfeeding (or giving formula) for at least the first year of life. Even when you have introduced solid foods into the diet of the child, the infant receives most of their nutrition from the breast or the bottle. At around 6 months of age, the infant begins to develop the “chewing” reflex and will bite instead of suck food from a spoon. They start to lose the sucking pads from the inside of their cheeks and they are getting manually dexterous with the pincher motion.
Now, many people say that so long as baby is sitting upright, you can give them as many foods as they want and they won’t choke if they feed themselves. If they had ever seen my son eat, they would know this is a dirty, dirty lie. I tried this with my son, putting his food bits on the tray in front of him while we sat and ate. He promptly stuffed as many as would go into his mouth and choked. After the split second freak out I had, I promptly scooped food out of his mouth and gave him the squeeze and he was fine. This is why you should never leave your baby unattended with food.
Since then, we worked on this issue. I started by only giving him a couple of food bites in front of him and then slowly increased the number. We have been working on giving him more until he doesn’t overstuff his mouth. We are pretty much able to give him all his food at once now, but that took a month of working on it.
So, we have been introducing solid foods to him. If you want to work toward removing the bottle or the boob from your baby, you would make sure that you have several meals together a day, removing the bottle or breast feedings as you introduce them. I would suggest starting slowly with one meal replacing a bottle or breast. I think those people who use formula are more likely to want to wean faster. Formula is expensive and sort of a pain in the rump. So, introducing solids to a child to get them off the bottle sooner is an eventual goal for most formula fed babies.
When you are ready to remove your child from the breast, instead of giving them the breast first, give them the breast after some solid food. Then, slowly stop giving them a breast at all after the solid food. If you baby fusses for the boob, go ahead and give it to them. You don’t want to cause them stress over it and if they are really fussing for the boob, they probably aren’t ready to go off of it. Eventually, you can wean your child down to less milk. This will be nice for both your baby and for you. As you produce less milk, the milk itself changes and adjusts to your child’s needs. It becomes fattier and the enzymes change, preparing your child for their new diet.
Soon, you may find that your child only wants an evening feeding. If you feel you are ready to break them of that, change their night time routine. Instead of giving them the breast to help them sleep, maybe give them a bath or a cup of water. Have your partner start getting them ready for bed instead. Or just stop offering your breast. If they ask, give it to them, but don’t go out of your way to give them the breast. The key here is to be comfortable in your choice and to make your child comfortable with your choice.
Don’t let anyone dictate to you what to do or how you should feel. If you and your child want to continue breast feeding, then by all mean, go for it.
I can already see my future. My son has started to take the breast less and doesn’t seem overly interested in it unless he happens to be both tired and hungry- then the only thing he wants is the boobies. I suspect he will wean himself off the breast at around 18 months the way he is going. He prefers solid food. He likes to play with it and feed himself. He enjoys the independence of it.
Allow your child to set the pace. The real key to natural parenting is to do what is natural for you and your baby. Not what any book or any one person says is natural or normal. Each mother/baby duo (or trio or whatever as the case may be) is different and has a different need and want. Do what makes you happy and what feels right for you and your child. Don’t force them off the breast, but at the same time, don’t force them to stay on it either.
[[I shall share with you my dirty little secret as a natural mama- I am not fond of the LLL. Every person I have spoken to in the group has been either condescending with a superiority complex or has been overly militant about the issue of breastfeeding. And this is not based on a sampling of 1 or 2 people. I am talking more like a sampling of 20-30 people from 4 different groups. If I want to nurse with a cover for my personal comfort, I shall do so. If I want to give my baby puree peas on a spoon before finger foods, I will. If I have to go back to work and pump instead of being a full time mom, I am going to do that. If my husband is going to be our child's primary caregiver, there is nothing unnatural about that. End Frothy Rage Rant. (Feel free to criticize me over this, I don't care, I wear big girl panties and can take it.)]]
Mother’s Day was founded based on a campaign started by Miss Anna Jarvis. The campaign began in 1907, campaign two years after the death of her mother. Her mother had founded the Mothers Day Work Club which helped to improve sanitation and health conditions in the cities where they were after the Civil war. They treated both Union and Confederate soldiers with neutrality tending wounds and feeding them as they needed it. She campaigned to have her mother and all Mother’s recognized and in 1914, with the support of Woodrow Wilson, Mother’s Day became a nationally recognized holiday.
However, just a few years after the establishment of the holiday, Anna Jarvis found herself campaigning against it.
Why?
Commercialization.
She saw the commercialization of the holiday as ruining it. She detested printed Mother’s Day Cards and boxes of candy and even flower. She spent her fortune campaigning against what the holiday had become. She was even arrested in 1948 while protesting the holiday. By this time, she wished she had never created the holiday because it had become so commercial and against what she saw as the spirit of the day and the sentiment that it was supposed to hold.
To her, Mother’s Day was a day to celebrate your mother; to show her your true feelings and respect. The commercialization of that idea was and is detestable. In fact, had it not been for the commercialization of the holiday by greeting card makers and florists, it likely would have faded into obscurity like Children’s Day, Liberty Day, Plant a Flower Day or National Anthem Day.
So, this Mother’s Day, think about what the day really means before you go to the shop and pick up a card or a bunch of flowers. Think about what your Mother has really given you. Think about all those people whose mother is no longer with them. Think about how you would feel if your mother was no longer with you and what you really want her to know. Think about what it means to you to be a mother and what is really important. Is it things? Or is it the love and respect of your family?
So you probably know that I don’t have any children yet and that I’m also not pregnant. But I have amassed a decent fluff stash (cloth diapers) and I keep adding to it. Why is that? Because cloth diapers can be expensive. And having a baby is even more expensive. It seemed like a good idea to me to start buying things that I know I will need NOW, to spread out the cost. A baby is a lot less expensive if you have longer to pay for the things you need. I kind of consider it buying on credit. Buy it now, get the baby later.
That doesn’t mean that I haven’t gotten some killer deals, because I totally have. I bought a Moby wrap at a store closing and only paid $25 for it. I buy generic baby legs on Ebay, or wait until they have a really good sale and stock up. (I have like 20 pairs of baby legs because of sales.) I got a Seven Sling because they keep having coupon codes for free ones. (Seriously, use the code ‘breastfeeding’ and get a free sling from Seven or a free nursing cover from Udder Covers.) Diapers are no exception. So I thought I would share some of the deals I’ve scored as well as photos of my current stash, and how to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to cloth diapering.
First up, the Itti Bitti Tutto pile. You might notice I have several. Seven, in fact. Five were purchased from Kissed by the Moon during a buy 4 get one free sale. Bitti Tutto’s are $26.95, which is WAY more than I would normally pay for a diaper. But when you add in the free diaper, you’re only really paying $21.56 each, which is a bit more reasonable. So, my first tip- Stalk the sales. Subscribe to your favorite cloth stores’ newsletter. The other two Bitti Tutto’s were purchased off of BabySteals for around $16 each. BabySteals is a daily flash sale site. Usually around 9am, they post an awesome deal on something baby related. The only down side to that is that they have a huge customer base and things sell out really quickly sometimes. Tip two- Subscribe to flash sale sites. Baby Steals, Baby Half Off, FairyTaleDeals, etc.
The Rumparooz was purchase full price, because they rarely go on sale. Part of the reason I only have one, lol. The GroVia was purchased from EcoMom with a discounted gift voucher that I got from MamaSource. MamaSource is kind of like Groupon for mom deals. I was able to purchase a $40 gift voucher for less than $20 on MamaSource. I put it toward a few fluffy related items, including that GroVia. Check the discount sites, like MamaSource. There are also the ‘member only’ deal sites like EcoBabyBuys, Zulilly, and Totsy.
Then there are the generic diapers. The very top diaper is a GoGreen pocket Champ. It’s on the mid-range of the price scale, coming in at $15.95, and I paid full price, which again is why I only have one. That and I found diapers that are exactly the same for less. Which brings me to Alva Baby diapers. Alva Baby is a Chinese company that sells directly from the factory to the consumer. Their diapers range in price from as low as $4 to around $9. They aren’t the greatest quality, but they are perfectly fine to use. Especially if you’re on a budget! You can often find Alva co-op groups and get an even better deal. Buy in co-ops to save even more! They have lots of different colors and prints, and come in several styles. Buy generic. Alva, Sunbaby, Kawaii, etc. Join co-op groups on Facebook. Alva Baby Color Snap diapers are EXACTLY the same as GoGreen Champs, with the exception of the actual color of the snaps. (Champs have a rainbow of snaps at the waist, the Alva’s have groups of different colors.) Also very similar are Lovely Pocket Diaper Raves and Bumfetti. ($12 and $12.50, respectively) LPD also has a very inexpensive option, their original line which is $7-7.50, depending on if you get solid colors or prints.
The BumGenius were purchased in a store sale. One for some holiday last year, and one for Earth Day this year. I paid under $14 each. Happy Heiny’s were purchased full price. (And I love them, they might be the only diaper I’d regularly buy full price. haha.) The Fuzzi Bunz was purchased from a flash sale. Hiding underneath it is a Charlie Banana, which I won in a giveaway. Yes, seriously. I NEVER WIN ANYTHING, but I won a giveaway on the CB Facebook, of all places. (That swim diaper at the bottom is also a CB, won in the same giveaway.) Enter giveaways, even if you don’t think you’ll win. You might be surprised! The brown Oh Katy diaper was purchased used from a cloth diaper swap group. It’s in perfect condition with no staining, and was a killer deal. I think I paid $11 with shipping for that one. Buy used! Save a ton of money and help out some other mamas. The other two OhKaty’s were purchased in a normal store sale.
Fitteds are a type of diaper that are really difficult to find on sale. Most of the better ones are WAHM brands, and while you might find the occasional discount, it’s rare. You can combat this by purchasing used fitteds through diaper swaps. This is how I purchased the GoodMamas I have. GM’s are regularly $35. I didn’t pay more than $15 for the two I have. The white one is in perfect condition, and the flower-y one is in play condition, but that’s not a bother to me. You can also hunt for inexpensive WAHM made diapers. BC Fleecy diapers are extremely well priced at $16 each. The downside is that she only stocks about once a week, 5-6 diapers per stocking. She occasionally has custom slots available as well. Do your research and find well made diapers that are regularly priced cheap. The last fitted is a random WAHM brand with no tag, I bought it used.
I have 35 cloth diapers, which is a fairly complete stash. I’m not anywhere near done, though. One of the ways I’m helping my future self is by purchasing a large stash now. When it comes time to use the diapers, I’ll not only have a lot of options, but I’ll have a good rotation going. The bigger your rotation, the less each diaper is used, which means each diaper can be used longer. I’m doing this so that I’ll be able to use these diapers for all my children, and never have to purchase a bulk of diapers for any one child in an ‘emergency’ situation. I’m about to purchase 15 newborn diapers in a co-op, and spend $75. These diapers look EXACTLY like a Rumparooz Lil’ Joey, but at less than half the cost. This combines two money saving tips- buying generic and buying with a co-op. My goal is to eventually have at least 100 diapers. Crazy, I know. But fluff is addicting. (So is saving money!)
Did you purchase diapers before getting pregnant? How many diapers are in your stash?
In the continuing saga of my series of Beyond Breastfeeding articles, I want to talk about finger foods and introducing them to your child. I have already talked about supplementing breast milk and the introduction of solid foods (and some kosher tips for this introduction). In later episodes of this drawn out saga, I shall talk about weaning, teething foods and dealing with food allergies and other food intolerances. So worry not if you don’t see a topic of things that fall into this series yet, it is coming. I just had a short interlude away from these articles.
On to the real topic!
Finger Foods! Everyone loves finger foods, even adults. I will fully admit that I love little nibbles that I can just pick up and pop in my mouth; appetizers, sushi, crackers (this is my one junk food weakness…crackers), pickles, etc. It is the same for baby.
You may have noticed that your child has started picking up objects with their thumb and forefingers and sticking them in their mouth no matter how appropriate it is to stick said object in their mouth. This, of course, led to a frenzy of high level baby proofing. (At least it did for me.) This means that your child is ready for finger foods.
Letting your child feed themselves finger foods is one of the best things you can do for their mental and physical development. It improves manual dexterity, gives them control over their eating giving them a feeling of independence and helps them to develop healthy eating habits. By letting your child feed themselves, they can judge when they are full and stop eating. This is actually something they don’t get when you are feeding them by spoon and it is a crucial part of their development of eating habits and will stick with them for their entire life.
That’s right, right now your baby is learning how to overeat or to stop when they are full. I am sure many of you grew up in the “clean your plate” era. I know I did. This is a terrible habit to teach your child. A healthy eater knows when to stop when they are full and it is not something you can teach, they have to learn it on their own. By letting your child feed themselves finger foods, you are giving them the chance to develop good eating habits.
There are pre-made finger foods you can buy out there- “puffs” of various varieties, tiny cubed carrots, etc. If you want to go that way, fine, but the best thing you can do for your child to encourage good eating habits is to feed them what you are eating.
There are some rules to this obviously.
1. Make certain that you can mash the food using only your tongue and the top of your mouth. If you can do that, it is soft enough for baby. Make double certain if you child doesn’t have teeth yet like mine.
2. Think about the size of the bits you are giving your child. They should be small enough that there is no choking hazard, but large enough that they can grip them easily in their fingers.
3. If you child is anything like mine, they will try to shove as many food bits into their mouth at once as they can fit. Don’t let them as it they can choke, give them only a couple of pieces of food at a time.
4. Make certain your child isn’t allergic to the foods within your foods first. Keep an eye out for the big allergens: eggs, wheat, nuts, soy, and dairy. If you child doesn’t have allergies, you should be okay.
If you follow these rules, you can give your baby anything.
You will quickly find that your child’s favorite food is the food you currently have on your plate. This is fine. I simply share small bits of my food with mine. We sit him at the table with us for dinner. (This has the added benefit of helping baby develop social skills and I encourage everyone to make this a habit.) I get small bits of my food and place them in front of my baby. He then picks them up and eats them.
I waited to do this until he was actively trying to get at my plate. Like supplementing and the introduction of solid foods, you should still continue to give your child breast milk or formula for the first year while you are doing this. All babies are different. Mine started reaching for the plate pretty early and was able to pick things up with his fingers early on as well. Other babies may not be interested in it for a while. That is fine.
Tips for starting:
1. When baby reaches for some food, give them a small baby sized bite.
2. Think about what you eat, are there parts you can give to your child? Then do so!
3. It is easy to have pre-prepared finger foods appropriate for baby in the fridge. Carrots, peas, beans, sweet potatoes and other veggies are easy to keep pre-cooked in your fridge. And frankly, baby doesn’t care about eating cold food.
4. Think about what you are giving you child. Are you giving them food or junk food? Crackers are easy to give to a child, but do you want to make that a habit? Introduce healthy eating now!
5. Make eating a social event with the whole family. Children love to be included and will often participate in your discussion babbling and tlaking with you. Encourage this behavior.
6. Baby will make a mess. Don’t make a big deal about it. The bigger fuss you make, the more baby is entertained and will continue the habit.
Some of the first foods we gave out little guy was individual black beans just slightly pre-mooshed, enchiladas, naan with butter chicken sauce, rice, bits of cheese, bits of carrot, peas, lima beans also slightly pre-mooshed, cake (it was his cousins birthday), bits of strawberry, scrambled or boiled eggs, and pizza.
Of course there is a list of foods to avoid- you can find the list repeated ad nauseam online so I won’t repeat it.
So, spend time with your child while they eat and share your food. Help baby develop a broad and exciting palette. You may have to delve outside of your comfort zone with food, but that is a good thing. Introduce baby to as many different foods as you can and this will help with the pickiness factor later in life.
I received this recipe when I was having supply issues. It ended up being exactly what I needed in multiple ways. Most important, it filled my boobies with milk! But it came at a very stressful time in my life, where I was feeling like a failure as a mother. It was great to take the time to make them from scratch, even a small sense of accomplishment can go a long way. Then these wonderfully tasting cookies ACTUALLY worked. When I made them. Talk about accomplishment! That they worked meant I was capable of solving my own problems as well as nurturing my child simultaneously. Really fueled me up with some mama power! So if you are having some issues with low supply or just want to boost yours up some, I highly recommend this recipe. I want to thank the EMerald ladies for sharing this with me even though I have been extremely out of touch, this recipe meant so much to me!
Ingredients
Directions
They come out wonderfully and make your house smell pretty fantastic. I made HUGE cookies, 9 to a sheet, so 15 minutes was a minimum for my cooking time and I only got 2.5 dozen. If you don’t have a sweet tooth, I would skimp on the chocolate chips or exclude them altogether. I will probably only do one third of a cup the next time I make them.
Give them a try if you desire a milk boost or if you just want some cookies. They will quell both needs!
I was sent the SodaStream and a selection of flavor syrups free of charge in exchange for review. No other compensation was provided and this is my 100% honest opinion. To find out more about our disclosure policy, check here.
I’m so excited about this one! SODASTREAM! If you’re unaware, SodaStream is an at-home soda fountain. It requires minimal technical knowledge to use (If you can push a button and turn a bottle, you can make soda) and runs on NO electricity! Plus it’s super fun!
Hello everyone! Samantha here. Thought I would share a bit of my life with you!
Almost two weeks ago my husband, Roghan and I moved. We’re still dealing with all that lame moving stuff like having the cable guys out three times and still no internet… Not knowing where anything is, having no safe/free place to let the baby play… I’m writing this from my phone, in bed, with a little boy asleep on one of my arms. Moving makes me a wreck. It has been… Oh so many things. Crazy. Chaotic. Insane. Wait, those are all kind of the same right? Let me add some more to the mix. Stressful. Busy. Overwhelming. Hmm, those are the same, too. Well, here’s the worst one of them all: bittersweet. Worst you say? I should explain; that is the hardest one to live through.
You see, we moved out of the house I brought my baby home from the hospital to… We became a family in that house. And now it’s empty. Devoid of anything that says some of the most important things in my life happened there. That house was our saving grace after some major family issues; I moved in as a hesitant, pregnant newlywed and emerged a confident wife and mother. I struggled and progressed, my relationship evolved into something even greater than I could imagine and most importantly, my child grew there. I took a newborn boy into that home and left with an almost toddler.
So many wonderful memories are held inside those walls. Beautiful memories. Roghan’s first bath. First steps. First laugh. First clap. Firsts of all kinds. Finding out just how much he loved tissue paper. Sleeping in the living room where we had the swamp cooler while we waited on the AC repairs to keep our newborn from melting. Learning that despite how much I hate monkeys, Roghan thinks monkey noises are the best. Discovering all the little things that make him smile or relax. Seeing my husband become a father that was even greater than the one I knew he would be.
We made his nursery there. We overhauled his room to make it perfect (I’m an extreme-nester) with new flooring, paint, furniture and decor, some of which I hand made to make sure it was exactly right. That was his first little space in this world. Roghan’s corner of Earth to call his own. He belonged because of that house.
And we left it. My last visit had me in tears. Everywhere I looked all I could see were scenes of our life there. Over there Roghan took his first bite of avocado, in there he rolled over for me and his daddy over and over at four in the morning, right here he found puppies to be the most fun to chase… Such a surreal experience being in an empty house that is just so full.
We have so many changes and opportunities the have befell us as of recent… It’s nice to know we are moving on to better things for us, but it’s just so difficult to leave a place that was our start as us. Just a few days ago, I stood in Roghan’s empty room (the last room to pack then move) and looked at what was left of his space in the world and cried. Travis wanted to know why and I told him, “Because this was what we did for Roghan. All of it was for him and now we aren’t even going to see it again.” To which he replied, “What we are doing right now… It is for Roghan, too.” I couldn’t think of a better way to see it.
We are a group of six women in various stages of motherhood, dedicated to living and parenting as greenly as possible! We hope you'll stick around and be a part of our growing community.
